We are relying on scientists, health care professionals but also world technology leaders to help stop the spread of Covid-19
I hadn’t planned to cover the science or bio medical aspects of AI in this early stage of my blog, however I couldn’t let the week go by without devoting this post to some of the astonishing and scary developments the entire nation has faced at the plight of a virus which started in China in January.
Masks are now widely worn across the globe
The Corona Virus pandemic has taken the world by storm and not in a good way
In the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak the words leaders in Amazon, Google and Apple met with Downing Street to discuss their role in the outbreak. A World Health Organization report last month said AI and big data were a key part of China’s response to the virus. Technological leaders have already begun to play a vital role by modelling and tracking data to help predict the spread.
AI Could be used to design a drug to fight current and future viral outbreaks
Source: Pexels.com
An AI-discovered cure could be quicker than modern medicine but could still take months
The ways it can immediately help the Covid-19 outbreak is develop a vaccine, scan through millions of existing drugs to see if any could be re-purposed or design a drug for current and future viral outbreaks but this could take in the region of 18-24 months.
All we can do is hope that the powerful minds in tech and science teamed with the massive developments in AI can help us through this time of uncertainty and global crisis. Also, reflecting on some of amazing uses of AI that some may thought was never possible has really lifted my mood and given me an optimistic outlook on the possibilities for find a cure that might be nearer that we currently think.
Stephen Hawking was skeptical of “Strong AI” which has similar reasoning capabilities as humans BUT…..
AI gave Stephen Hawking the ability to communicate faster. He wore a device on his glasses that assessed if his cheek was flexed or not. It used the signal as a mouse click to control his computer. This was initially so slow and prone to error as sentences had to be typed letter by letter but with the help of machine learning and AI an algorithm was developed to predict what words he was about to type. As one of the greatest minds of the 21st century the fact that he could live on through such developments displays the sheer impact of how far we have come and what is now possible.
Thank you for following me as I continue this new blogging journey. In my next post I’ll take a closer look at some myths associated with AI to see if they can be busted.
A closer look at AI today 